Them and Us

four

At exactly nine forty-three in the morning, Bob jerked upwards as he woke. He found his legs across Aberfaye and stretch all the way to Chris. His head was on the armrest, so his body was practically vertical across the two teens. He stayed still, in thought about Chris' revelation that he had been told about the night before.

He still found the thought of Chris being gay funny. Not in a discriminating way but because he knew that Aberfaye had somewhat of an attraction to him and that he himself had been shipping them all of yesterday. Bob thought about whether to tell Aberfaye, but after along self debate he decided not to tell her as it wasn't his place. He realised that Chris obviously wasn't leading her on but she'd essentially been family zoned by the way she had been treated by him.

Bob kicked his legs up off the teens and sat up. He walked to the fridge and stretched because the uncomfortable position he had been in all night had made him feel like he was walking around with ninja stars in his back. He opened the fridge and no food had magically appeared like he had dreamt of last night. He pulled out another bottle of water and tipped his head back letting the tasteless beverage be downed in a few seconds.

He soon thought he'd freshen himself up as he definitely didn't smell of his cologne he had put on the day before. Following the same route as Chris yesterday, he wondered upstairs and took a shower. He borrowed a pair of jeans that were slightly too tight on his muscular legs and a baggy top from Faye's dad's wardrobe. He figured that if Chris' could borrow some clothes (who was also met by Faye a day ago), so could he.

"Bob!" Faye's voice rang though the house. "Where are you?"

"I'm up here, just took a shower. I'm coming down now." He yelled back.

Bob rushed down the stairs in his new borrowed outfit.

"Hey, is that my da-, nevermind. I don't want to even know. Can you wake up Christoph? I think we should leave the house today and finally find out what's going on. Grab what you think we'd need in the house and pack them. If you need me, I'll be in the shower." Aberfaye made known and made her way upstairs without actually waiting for a response.

Bob was quiet for while, trying to process the information. "Wake up Chris, erm, and get ready to go," He muttered to himself. "Yeah, got it!" He shouted up the staircase.

He walked over to Chris, who was still asleep on the couch and shook his shoulder gently. Chris stirred but only mumbled and turned his head in the opposite direction to Bob. He pulled his knees up to his chest and continued to snore lightly. Bob then tipped the sofa from behind, which resulted in Chris falling off the couch.

"Hey! What's your problem?" Chris mumbled as he rubbed his eye. Sitting up, he leant on his arm and looked confused for a moment when he saw Bob.

"Faye said to get ready. We're leaving."

Christoph groaned. "Can we at least eat some breakfast?"

"Believe me boy, I have searched those cupboards in and out. They're as empty as this town."

When Christoph finally woke up properly, he and Bob started searching around the house for necessities to bring with them. They ended up grabbing all remaining three bottles of water from the fridge, matches, a flashlight, extra clothes for the two of them and toilet paper.

"Toilet paper? Why would you need any of that?" Chris asked.

"You never know if you need to do a number two in the middle of nowhere." Bob shrugged.

Aberfaye walked down stairs with her own supplies in a backpack and greeted the boys. They recited what they had and Faye explained her plan.

"Okay, so my parents left their car at Otis' Repair shop two days ago. They were supposed to pick it up yesterday so it's probably still there. I think we should go there so we won't have to walk around. After that, we should start looking for other people. And answers." She tied her hair up in a pony tail, like she always did when she felt ready for action. Grabbing the spare car key near the door, she asked, "You guys ready?"